When questioned on Monday who was “footing the bill” for President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness scheme, Vice President Kamala Harris kept to the script.
Instead of responding to the question, she changed the subject to a talking point that the president had already said.
Before boarding Air Force Two to return to Washington, Harris told reporters, “Well, let’s start with this: First of all, a lot of the same people who are criticising what we rightly did in following through on a commitment that we made to forgive student loan debt are the same people who voted for a tax cut for the richest Americans.”
The vice president had come to Florida on Monday to witness the delayed launch of the Artemis I rocket.
The government hasn’t provided a “clear response” on who would foot the bill for Biden’s plan to cancel $10,000 and $20,000 in student debts owed by Americans, a reporter on the tarmac informed the vice president.
Harris said, “So when we look at who is benefiting from this, 90% of the folks who will benefit from student loan forgiveness earn under $75,000 a year, and that debt has been the reason that they’ve been unable to have a family, purchase a house, and pursue their piece of the American Dream.
In a video and a tweet, the White House has highlighted a similar statement made by Biden during Wednesday’s announcement on student loans.
Biden was questioned whether it was unjust to Americans who had already paid off their debts as he left the Roosevelt Room after unveiling the proposal to eliminate portions of student debt.
Is it fair that one of these men get all the tax advantages when the others don’t really own multibillion dollar companies? Ist das fair?
How do you feel? In his statement, Biden made a reference to the tax bill that former President Donald Trump signed in 2017 and reduced corporate rates.
The White House also criticised a number of Republican members of the House who complained about the student loan programme while receiving the benefits of cancelled Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Last week, queries about how the plan would be paid for and how much it would cost were difficult to answer for White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Director of the Domestic Policy Council Susan Rice, and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Bharat Ramamurti.
Ramamurti calculated that, assuming 75% of borrowers take advantage of the scheme, it would cost around $240 billion when he returned to the briefing room on Friday.